When communicating using a mobile device, users often wish to transmit and receive many types of messages. As mobile communications devices have become more advanced, they have steadily incorporated not only increased functionality at the software and hardware level but also additional means of communication. For example, a mobile communications device may offer an e-mail client through which a user can send and receive e-mail; an expandable memory for storage of e-mail attachments, documents, multimedia files and other information; a viewer or editor application for several types of documents; a calendar application capable of handling appointments and reminders; an address book managing contact records; a Web browser capable of displaying Web pages; and other applications, including those for specialized Internet access. Multimedia applications and hardware support have also increased. For instance, a typical mobile communications device may have a camera capable of generating still images and capturing video files; a microphone to record audio files; an audio player capable of playing music and sound files of various formats; a video player capable of playing several formats of video files; a photo viewer application, and similar features. The mobile communications device may also include several distinct communications protocols, such as Bluetooth, WiFi, ultra wide band (UWB), infrared (IR), cellular GSM or other protocols.
This increasing complexity in mobile communications devices often results in a number of ways that can be used to complete a given transmission with a mobile communications device. For instance, if a user of the mobile communications device wishes to transmit a file to a wireless-enabled printer, the transmission might be handled via Bluetooth, WiFi, IR or another wireless protocol that depends upon how the mobile communications device is configured to interoperate with the printer. The configuration of the mobile communications device generally is predetermined based on the capabilities of the mobile device and of the printer and the range between them.
Currently mobile communications devices generally employ their various communications protocols in a manner both limited and limiting: typically a given application running on the device will default to a certain protocol (e.g., file transfer between mobile devices may default to Bluetooth) while in some cases the user is asked to select a protocol. This approach fails to exploit the full capabilities presented by a variety of communications protocols, and tasks the user with making a selection he or she may be unsure how best to make. The quality of service for the user suffers because decisions affecting communications resource allocation are either preset or given to the user, who may not know the best protocol to use, their relative benefits and drawbacks, or the other transmissions currently being handled by the mobile device.